It has been required to perform mass spectrometric analysis of a fine particle material contained in an atmosphere or another gas in terms of engineering, environmental problems, and the like.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-5811 discloses removing unwanted fine particles of water vapor and the like in a gas therefrom and analyzing the remaining gas as an object to be examined. U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,365 discloses a detecting system for a human body, which is embodied to have a portal configuration through which a person passes and spray an air onto a person standing straight inside the port. U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,431 discloses a structure for collecting fine particles, which is embodied to apply a gas stream containing sample fine particles perpendicularly to a disposed filter and collect the sample fine particles.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-5811
[Patent Document 2] U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,365
[Patent Document 3] U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,431
However, none of the foregoing embodiments is sufficient to perform easy, convenient, and efficient examination.
Examination is generally difficult in most cases for such reasons that: fine particles are normally an aggregate of molecules and it is impossible to specify the original molecules even though the fine particles can be measured as they are; the concentration of fine particles is low; and it is difficult to remove fine particles when they are adhered due to the strong adhesive force thereof. As part of anti-terrorism measures especially at an airport or the like, it has been increasingly necessary in recent years to detect dangerous materials. It is conceived that, among the dangerous materials, commonly used explosives such as TNT powder and RDX are normally in the state of fine particles because they are low in saturated vapor pressure and less likely to be vaporized. To specify and detect such a fine particle material, it is necessary to gasify the material with the application of heat by any means, introduce the resultant gas into a mass spectrometer, and perform measurement.
Conventionally, the measurement of such fine particles has been performed in such a manner that a person wipes off adhered fine particles by using a wipe-off sheet using a material such as cotton or the like and gasifies the fine particles with the application of heat. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-5811 only discloses collecting the unwanted fine particles in the gas and measuring the remaining gas flow. In accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 6,334,365, the dangerous material detecting system is formed inevitably in large scale as a portal for a human body. Since a fine-mesh filter is used as a fine-particle collecting filter to collect the fine particles in accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,431, dust in an air inevitably adheres to the filter unless it is used in a clean environment. As a result, the efficiency of fine particle collection of the filter may conceivably be influenced if operation is performed constantly over a long period of time. In addition, scaling down is difficult if the flow rate is high because of the large loss factor of the filter. In the case where clogging occurs, it becomes necessary to replace the filter and halt the system so that operation efficiency is lowered. If baggage checks for a variety of carry-on luggage at an airport or the like are taken as an example, the checks will conceivably become more stringent in the future as various explosives have been checked more rigorously in recent years as part of anti-terrorism measures. As a result of more stringent checks, influences such as a longer checking time and a delayed flight operation are observed. The number of air passengers and an amount of airfreight circulation are expected to increase in the future on a world-wide scale so that it is necessary to sufficiently reduce a checking time and labor and operation involved in checking.
On the other hand, the wipe-off method involves the operation of wiping off fine particles by a person and the operation of placing the wiped-off material in a heat gasifying mechanism. As a result, the problem is encountered that higher efficiency operation or automated operation is difficult to be performed.
To solve at least one of the foregoing problems, the present invention provides an apparatus for analyzing a fluid containing fine particles. An object of the present-invention is to provide an analyzing apparatus which allows, e.g., easy, convenient, and efficient checking to be performed.